xenon's seem a bit dim

X3nut · Post by **X3nut** » Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:04 pm

As the title suggests they seem a bit dim. Not had the car long enough to notice as I've not driven it at night until yesterday and noticed it doesn't light up the road very well. Now I've had this before with the E46 that we own but I changed the bowls completely ( got them from Retrofit in Holland ) on that and it made a massive difference so I suppose the question is can the bowls on the x5m be changed easily or not? I've heard that the pre LCI e70's projectors are easy to change but I'm not sure if it's the same on the M. Are the lights different on this model?

Can anyone help?
Ian

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 2:35 pm

I would imagine all M vehicles have xenon lighting?

What do the lamps look like, clean and shiney inside, is the outer perspex cover clean or cloudy?

Maybe the ballast unit is faulty?

Just my initial thoughts.

Leslie · Post by **Leslie** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:41 pm

The headlamp "glass" does tend to go cloudy with age , its bonded in so a right pain to change but can be buffed up to a good finish again usually .

X3nut · Post by **X3nut** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:01 pm

Lights seem in good nick and the lenses are fairly clear but I can't see into the bowls as It's a bit tight in there. Is it easy to remove the entire light or am I looking at bonnet/wing removal?

Leslie · Post by **Leslie** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:11 pm

I think you need to undo some screws in the arch after taking a wheel off and removing liner and bring it out that way , I did see a vid on you tube but never done it myself.

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:15 pm

I believe the wheel arch liner has ro be released and its far from an easy task. Why not post some pics of the headlamps for further advice.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:56 pm

I was never happy with the brightness on my X6 so replaced the lamps with Oscar Xenarc Nightbreaker Laser a couple of years ago they are better. Don’t be tempted to fit cheap bulbs as the arc is very often not correctly placed so the beams malform. Amazon have them at £92/pair but only get them from a reputable supplier so you can check the serial number. There were a lot of fake ones about three or so years ago so Osram put an identifier code to confirm genuine items.

X3nut · Post by **X3nut** » Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:59 pm

Cheers chaps/ess's I'll get some pics up when I can but in no massive rush...thanks for the advice

X3nut · Post by **X3nut** » Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:30 am

Got the bulbs changed to Osram nightvision laser and they have made quite a difference. When I took the existing ones out they had odd bulbs in, one was Osram and the other some chinese crap (which had burnt around the glass) so this was the reason for the useless light (one started fading to yellow).

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:53 am

Sadly this is all too common, buy cheap, buy twice as the saying goes. In the early days of HID bulbs the ‘proper’ ones were expensive (hence being the target of fake versions) so people went cheap. Sadly you got the bill for someone else’s decision

X3nut · Post by **X3nut** » Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:50 pm

Yes it seems so, could probably do with getting them aligned as the bowls wobble around a bit when changing them.

H4MP · Post by **H4MP** » Sun Oct 31, 2021 1:55 am

I have fitted some Osram Cool blue intense xenons, bought from Amazon and sold by amazon for £85, alot better thsn the previous eBay budget ones.

Fitting was a nightmare took me good 2 hrs

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sun Oct 31, 2021 9:08 am

I remember changing the ones in the X6 and there isn’t a lot of room behind each light and a lot of quite sharp metal edges in the area too. I did read that putting a towel in the area first was critical because dropping a bulb and it falling into the wing was a nightmare in waiting! I found the offside one wasn’t too bad - still took a while - but the near side took me well over 1/2 hour! Just due to tight space, odd angles, big hands and having to do it by feel only.

H4MP · Post by **H4MP** » Sun Oct 31, 2021 9:50 am

Yes very sharp and I had lots of little cuts on the neck of my hand. I very nearly gave up. I still think they could be better, and light up more of the road. Howcome the newer cars have really white xenons crystal white?
I know the latest are LED. I mean the 2014 or 15 cars

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sun Oct 31, 2021 1:18 pm

Pass. BMW themselves offer a ‘blue’ bulb, or maybe they switched from Osram to someone else and got a higher colour temp - even though it’s a EU standard? Tweaked because of the LED angel eyes on later models. Knowing BMW they might even have put an anti-red filter in somewhere as well an the UV reduction one.

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